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"It scares me to death that a political party has the authority to basically act as judge, jury, and executioner in this matter. Frightning."

This happens every few years here in Alabama. You guys need to remember that this is a primary. The courts here have ruled that since the purpose of the primary is to select a party candidate, then the party has exclusive right to determine how it will be run.

The ballots are secret, but each party has their own ballot. You can only ask for one.

The last time this was an issue was in the late eighties in a gubernatorial election. One of the dems (who was also state attorney general) figured he could win the primary with gop cross over votes. So he issued an unsolicited (they're legal here) opinion (conflict of interest) that said these votes were legal and then started running ads soliciting cross over votes. He won.

The party establishment didn't like the idea that their handpicked boy didn't win so they went to court. The courts said they could set the rules. A similar panel was convened and "determined" enough cross over votes had occurred to tilt the election and that they "felt" that the other guy should have won. So this other guy got to be the democratic candidate.

The good news is that all these shinanighans so torqued the voting public that a relatively new and unknown GOP candidate won in a landslide. The first GOP governor since prohibition. Well, the democratic legislature impeached him. Seems he was a minister and sometimes performed weddings. He also took a love offering like all ministers do for this service and that was a gratuity. They put the democratic lt. gov. in office. This really torqued the voters who promptly voted in another republican.

I say power to 'em. Let 'em make fools out of themselves again. It can only help the gop.

At the local level in Alabama, Democrat Party politics are incredibly corrupt.

For eight years (1985-93), I lived in rural Central Alabama and was astounded at the level of corruption in places like Selma and Tuskegee. It was open, unapologetic and was basically petty and unimaginative -- low grifters working a daily scam, but always looking for the big score. Usually, one mention that you recognized what was being requested was enough to have the demand dropped. Thus, these party hacks essentially preyed on the ignorant -- blacks fleecing other blacks.

And, all of them, ever ready to play the race card in any electoral or legal matter. I've a very good idea who taught Latosha Brown how to conduct herself -- the inimitable Senator Henry "Hank" Sanders.